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r^' <br />In. <br />ff. <br />ir <br />I; <br />■R <br />V <br />D <br />V■h <br />V: . <br />i: <br />{■ <br />% <br />W' <br />Newletter to Citizens <br />Page 2 <br />In 1985 when the City did its land use study of land <br />adjacent to the current Highway 12, they again asked ^he <br />Minnesota Department of Transportation what plans, if any, they <br />had for Highway 12. Once again the Department of Transportation <br />indicated that there were no plans for the next 20 years; <br />consequently, the City proceeded to develop land uses compatible <br />with the existing corridor, together with a road system to keep <br />local traffic off the current corridor. <br />The current corridor study (scoping orocess) is being <br />handled by Larry Dallam of Howard Needles ano Associates. They <br />Are under contract to the Minnesota Department of Transportation <br />Metro District. This initial scoping process is a necessary <br />prelude to the environmental impact study. (Environmental impact <br />studies include, not only the natural environment, but also the <br />social, financial and other related impacts that the corridors <br />may have.) Following that 2 to 3 year period, it then ?oes into <br />a final environmental impact statement, right-of-way acquisition, <br />preliminary design, final design and construction. If funding <br />for all this were currently available, the process would take a <br />minimum of 8 to 10 years before an upgraded facility would be <br />constructed. <br />Nhat are the alternatives? <br />The consultant has proposed five primary routes with <br />variations on those routes. The consultant has also done traffic <br />forecasts for the year 2010 to determine which of these routes <br />would not meet the transportation objectives based on the traffic <br />forecasts. The routes are as follows: <br />Highway 55 - This link would tie Highway 12 tc Highway 55. <br />Based on traffic forecasts, however, traffic on the current <br />Highway 12 corridor would increase from the current 18,000 <br />to about 25,000 without an improvement to that corridor. <br />County Road 11 - This corridor goes straight east from <br />Delano and then cuts across from Loretto to the southeast to <br />Wayzata, creating substantially a new corridor through the <br />"rural" environment of Independence, Medina, and Orono. <br />This route would result in a decrease from 18,000 to 14,000 <br />cars a day on the current corridor. However, it would do so <br />at the expense of doubling traffic on County Road 6. <br />Current Corridor - This corridor would probably have about <br />35,000 cars a day in an improved four lane facility at or <br />near the present corridor. Alternatives to this would <br />result in having to construct 4 to 6 miles of new freeway in <br />Crono to solve what is probably a 1 mile bottleneck. <br />County Road 6 Route - This route would take a little more <br />traffic than the current corridor, however, it would <br />significantly increase north/south traffic on some of the <br />roads in the range of 3 to 4 times what they currently <br />carry, and have a significant impact cn the environment and <br />land uses in the northern portion of Orono.